A steadied aim for Smith & Wesson

A 161-year-old company doesn’t top the Globe 100 without making some updates and, indeed, Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. has expanded its product lines significantly since 2005, when it was still known almost exclusively for revolvers. But a key to the Springfield gun maker’s surge from unranked last year to number one this year was getting back to its roots. Just two years after Smith & Wesson bought a security company under a plan to diversify, chief executive James Debney — who had been the boss for all of 11 days — declared an about-face in the fall of 2011. “We went back to what we do best, which is handguns,” said Debney, “and since that point have not looked back.”